


Silver Branded L'Cie

by TheMysteriousGeek2345



Series: Silver Branded L'Cie [1]
Category: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Type-0
Genre: Angst, Gen, OOCness, Some humour, Weird stuff towards the end, people dying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-30
Updated: 2014-05-30
Packaged: 2018-01-27 14:26:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1713899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMysteriousGeek2345/pseuds/TheMysteriousGeek2345
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Why this was written: To answer the only question I have about this game. The identity of this question will spoil the whole fanfic for you.</p><p>Plot: When Trey first encounters a Silver branded L'Cie, he is told that his mind had made him/her up. Everyone in Class Zero believed it, until they also started to meet this L'Cie. Fifteen people meet this L'Cie in this cycle of Oriense, and this is the logs of their encounters. Takes place during the main game, ignoring the alternate ending.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silver Branded L'Cie

[Trey- 1]

Kurasame sighed as he walked into the classroom, where Class Zero would be waiting for him. Yes, they were excellent fighters, and yes, he secretly liked them but teaching them was like being outnumbered 1000-1 in a war. Impossible.

Something was different.

Everyone was surrounding Trey's desk, listening him ramble on some topic or another. That was unusual in itself. Most of his classmates (bar Deuce, who he was secretly dating) normally would have zoned out to Trey's rambling by now. Why was this time different?

The answer was the most unusual thing.

When Kurasame put the question forward, Trey's eyes lit up.

"I nearly died on a mission last night, as you know - you saw me walking back into the Academy with a broken arm-" Trey began enthusiastically.

"Continue, without the lecture." He muttered.

Trey carried on, "My life was spared that night by a L'Cie. It was quite dark, so I could not identify this L'Cie, but I could see its eyes glowing with the power of a crystal, and it's brand was shining brightly. They were different however...They were both silver, and the brand was in shape of an eye, and it was on its right elbow..."

Kurasame furrowed his brow as he listened. There was only 4 types of L'cie in Orience, and none of them matched the description Trey had given him. However, Trey was near death when he'd seen this 'L'Cie', so maybe Trey had just hallucinated the whole thing?

"Trey, you were near death at the time. Your mind might have made this all up." Kurasame finally replied, "If anyone in this class spreads this rumour of this so called "Silver branded L'Cie" I'll make them spar with my Tonberry, understood? It is not good for the war effort if some crazy story about a saviour runs around the Academy."

Needless to say, that lesson was the best lesson that Kurasame had ever taught.

[Machina and Rem- 2+3]

This Behemoth was different.

Ever since they had seen it near Susaku's boarder with Milites an hour ago, they had been following it, desperate to find out why it was different. And kill it, of course, to show this strange creature to Kurasame.

When they had finally caught up with it, they had expected an easy-ish victory.

Until the Behemoth pinned Rem down to the ground.

Machina hated fighting, but he attacked this Behemoth ferociously. He could not afford to lose Rem. He could not...didn't want a repeat of what had happened seven years ago in their village. He didn't want to lose the woman he loved.

The Behemoth severely damaged his right arm, and he fell to the ground, and he screamed in pain. He couldn't die now. Not when Rem was in danger.

As he looked up, he saw a L'Cie...with a silver brand.

Wait, what?

Machina moved in the direction of this L'Cie, and watched in amazement as it got out its weapon, a gunblade of some sorts, and fired several dice shaped bullets at the creature.

The Behemoth turned its focus away from the two Susaku students and focused on the L'Cie.

Big Mistake.

Rem got up, and watched the fight between the Behemoth and the L'Cie. She was so absorbed by the fight that she didn't even notice that she was coughing until a bit of blood splattered on her hand.

By the time she had cleaned it up, the Behemoth was dead. The L'Cie absorbed its Phantoma, before it tided itself up and approached them.

Now that Rem could focus more clearly, she could see that the L'Cie was wearing a clock with a hood, obscuring its features from the two students. The Silver brand was indeed on its right arm, and its eyes were glowing silver.

Just as Trey described.

"Thank you, for saving both of us." Rem smiled, before coughing again. Machina looked concerned, and hugged her, protecting her from the dangers of the outside world.

"My pleasure." The L'Cie muttered, before it vanished into the night.

When the two of them returned later that night, they quickly approached Trey, and told him what they had seen. Trey's eyes widened.

"Are you serious? You actually saw my saviour in that field, slaying a Chaos inflicted Behemoth? I read about it in an old history book, sometimes, a monster or a human is taken over by the forces of Chaos, which strengthens them, and makes them-" Trey rambled.

"Should we tell Kurasame? About what we saw?" Rem asked, disturbing Trey.

Everyone shook their head, the threat of their teacher's Tonberry fresh on their minds.

This would be just their secret. Well, until more people saw it in the fields of war.

[Sice- 4]

"How did you get injured?" The nurse asked Sice, when she hobbled into the medical ward. Investigations showed that she had sprained her ankle, bruised two ribs, and she probably had a concussion. The fact that she got here in the first place was miraculous.

"I tried to kill something. It beat me up." Sice replied bluntly, "Underestimated its strength."

The nurse sighed and rolled her eyes. This was an occasional occurrence that Sice would come in here, having challenged a monster or something like that, and get wounded. Rarely. Normally, she was good at judging the strength of a foe...unless she was so desperate to kill it that she forgot to do so.

"Spend a night in here, I'll contact Kurasame and let him know that you're here." The nurse muttered, before leaving the room, "One of our trainee healers will look after you."

The nurse left, and Sice made herself comfortable, before the healer came, and used healing magic on her wounds. It stung like hell, it normally did, but she just stayed silent. She had experienced far worse. When the healing was over, the healer prepared a sleeping draught, and gave it to her.

When Kurasame arrived, Sice was fast asleep. He stayed there for a couple of minutes, making sure that Sice was fine, and would be able to return to class the next day, as well as asking what had happened, before he left the student to recover.

The next day, she returned back to class, and everyone quickly asked her if she was ok, what happened, the usual sort of questions that one would ask. She replied bluntly and simply, not embellishing the story. Well, not yet. She needed to talk to Trey. And quickly.

Luckily, she got her chance once class ended, and everyone had left the classroom to do extracurricular activities. Trey was slower than usual in packing his bags, and he had mentioned that he wanted to visit the library. Perfect. They could discuss this in silence, and hopefully, the Cranberry knights wouldn't overhear.

"Trey, I saw the L'Cie." Sice muttered into his ear. Trey's eyes widened.

"When!? How!?" Trey was rendered speechless.

"Discuss in the library." Sice ordered.

Five minutes later, they were in the infrequently visited section of political history in Orience. That would mean that no rumours would spread, and no detention with a Tonberry would happen as a result. Though, if she did get that detention, she would be able to be near Kurasame...

She happily sighed. Trey looked at her, before muttering, "So, what happened?"

"I was in a building near one of the Milites occupied cities in Susaku, and I felt something behind me. I attacked it, and it turned out to be the Silver Branded L'Cie. He beat me up..."

"It's a guy?" Trey asked, "How can you tell?"

Sice muttered, "The chest felt like a guy's chest. So, he beat me up pretty badly, I was knocked unconscious for an hour, and I woke up outside the academy."

"He took you all the way back here? He really does seem like a kind sort of person? Did he fight with a gunblade that fired dice?" Trey asked.

"Yes!?" Sice paused, "I have one of the bullets in my pocket, I took it out of my body. Who else saw him? I mean, you didn't describe the weapon..."

"Machina and Rem saw him. He saved their lives, just like he saved mine. You shouldn't take bullets out of your wounds, as it could lead to blood loss and potential death, which would not be good for anyone in Class Zero..." Trey rambled, before Sice glared at him, "Anyways, can I see the bullet?"

Sice nodded, showing Trey the dice shaped bullet, before whispering "So, we can guess that this L'Cie is very powerful, but also treats friend and foe alike with kindness and respect."

Trey nodded, "Who is he though? That's what I want to know. Did you see his face? Hair colour, skin colour, facial structure, scars...?"

"I was unconscious for most of it. What do you expect?" Sice asked, and Trey smirked.

Suddenly, they could hear movement, and they looked around, and saw one of the Cranberry Knights. Damn.

"I gotta dash." Sice muttered, before lying "Bye Trey, thank you for helping me understand the Pax Codex. I never really understood it before, and your explanation helped."

Crisis Adverted.

[Queen- 5]

Queen had always believed that Trey had been mistaken when he had seen that fictitious L'Cie, who had apparently saved his life. There was no way that a fifth type of L'Cie could have hidden itself until now. It was crazy! Trey must have had either a near death experience, or was lying to everyone.

Still, it was strange. Occasionally, he would go off with Machina, Rem, Deuce and Sice to apparently 'hang out in the field'. She'd told Arecia and Kurasame about this before, but when they had gone to check up on this, apparently, they were just doing 'school work'.

Queen knew what she had done was wrong, and might have got them into trouble, but she didn't want them to develop a sense of false hope about a hero who would never come and save them in reality.

She had been on a mission with Machina and Sice, when she had seen him.

The L'Cie was fighting some Milities soldiers in the street when the three of them approached the fight, eager to save their contry from the invaders.

At first, she didn't, couldn't believe it. She tried to justify it logically. Maybe her glasses were broken? (They were not.) She was quite far away from the scence, and maybe her eyes were deceiving her.

However, as she got closer, she could see that it was him. Machina and Sice seemed exited- Queen guessed that it was because they got to meet their idol again. Not that she could complain, as the more she watched him fight, the more she realised why the others obsessed about him.

That L'Cie (whoever he was) was incredible. He was dancing around the soldiers, hacking them apart gracefully, like a Swan dancing in a ballet. No matter how many bullets they shot at him, he dodged them all.

Finally, the three of them arrived to assist the L'Cie. As they joined the combat, they could see the Silver Branded L'Cie give them the thumbs up. He was happy for the assistance.

Machina got out his dual rapiers, Sice got her Sythe ready, and she drew out her sword, and they also joined the L'Cie in hacking apart the soldiers. They needed to liberate this city from the cruel dictator whose very existence threatened their liberty.

A short while later, corpses surrounded the four of them, and as the three students scanned themselves for injuries, the L'Cie did the same. When the Students saw him healing a cut on his arm, they realised that he wasn't as invincible as they once had thought, even though he was an extremely powerful L'Cie.

"Thank you, all three of you." The L'Cie muttered, "I was outnumbered then. I do appreciate the help that you have given me. Otherwise, I wouldn't have survived long enough to complete my focus."

"What's your focus?" Machina asked quickly.

The L'Cie ignored his question, and turned away, before teleporting out of the city.

Machina and Sice turned to face Queen. They wanted her opinion on the matter, on the L'Cie.

"He is real, I have seen him and I have seen his brand." Queen began, "I cannot have made him up, and there are dead soldiers here that could not have killed. That proves that this L'Cie exists. I guess you have seen him?"

Machina and Sice nodded, before they told Queen their previous encounters with the L'Cie. Finally, they asked her if they wanted to talk with the others about the L'Cie, and not only work out who he was, but also hear stories of possible sightings, and discuss theories as to why he was in Orience.

This was how Queen found herself on the field with Trey, Machina, Rem, Deuce and Sice, apparently hanging out and doing school work, whereas in reality they were talking about the Silver Branded L'Cie.

[Jack- 6]

How Jack saw the Silver Branded L'Cie was, compared to the other stories his classmates would tell in the months to come, fairly ordinary.

Jack has been walking in one of the Gardens in the Academy late at night, thinking. He was thinking about the war, and how everyone had been growing more slowly gloomy over the last couple of months. He just wanted to put a smile on their face, make them happy, cast their minds of the war. It was just growing more hard to do so, especially because of the increasing amount of deaths in Susaku.

His mission today had been especially hard. He, Seven and Nine had tried to liberate a small village from the Milites invaders, but by the time they had managed to do so, everyone was dead. He'd tried everything, healing magic, Phoenix downs, elixirs...but nothing happened. The one that had hurt most was the vacant look in the dead children's eyes...

Then, he could see a silver light just out of the corner of his eye. He turned around, and smiled. It was the L'Cie.

Jack knew that some of his classmates idolised that L'Cie with a passion (In private, after all, they didn't want to dual that Tonberry) , exaggerating some of his achievements to make him appear like a God. Apparently, he could kill anything by poking them, if he wanted to. His magic was so powerful, it could raise a whole Milites city to the ground. Jack never believed those stories, but he did think that the L'Cie was powerful, and cool.

That L'Cie provided some hope, that there was someone who supported them outside of Susaku. Someone they could trust to support them with their lives- could Jack really trust his Government? After all, they had started to send Class Zero on increasingly suicidal missions. Did their Government want them dead?

If so, why?

Jack hated this doubt. Yes, he put on a smile, tried to keep his friends hope alive. In reality, he himself was starting to get broken by the amount of needless, pointless deaths.

That L'Cie kept that hope alive.

When he looked for the L'Cie again, he was gone.

In class the next day, he was smiling, cracking jokes, being his usual self. And inside, he also felt positive. They were going to survive this war. Jack could just feel it.

[Cater- 7]

Don't think. Feel.

That was her goal. She didn't want to think about who she was fighting, how she should be fighting, and why she was fighting. She wanted to be like a storm tearing its way through the enemy, killing and maiming without stopping to think.

One small weakness- occasionally, the storm could miss its target. That could lead to her being outnumbered, pinned against a wall, without hope for victory.

Luckily, the soldiers didn't killer her, but locked her up in prison. Without her weapons.

It was a dreary cold cell. The beds were made out of solid wood, the walls were bare, and mould had started to grow in the gaps between the bricks. The place itself hadn't been cleaned for at least ten years, maybe even longer. It stank really badly in here, of some unknown toxic smell that Cater had never experienced before. How long would she be trapped in here before they would torture her for information?

"Hello, do you want to help me get out?" Her cell mate asked. He was male, certainly a L'Cie, judging by his eyes, and the silver brand on his arm. His face was facing the wall, obscuring most of his features. However, Cater could see that he had short blond hair.

Cater nodded, eager to help the L'Cie. She had heard how tough he was, and she wanted to beat him, kill more soldiers than he had done. Yet... She felt like she had been through this situation before.

She shrugged this off, as the L'Cie used magic, and melted the bars of the cell. They both charged out of the cell, surprising many of the sleeping soldiers. They were easy to kill, as they had the element of surprise.

However, the reinforcements were much harder to defeat, as they were prepared for their assaults. On the other hand, once the L'Cie and herself had found their weapons, the battle between them and the soldiers was over very quickly.

Once it was over, the L'Cie approached her, wearing the signature cloak and hood some of her classmates had reported to have seen.

"Thank you for helping. I knew I couldn't have done it on my own, and I wanted to make sure that you survived. I guess you can call me SnakeEyes. I had best be going now, though I can teleport you to the Academy if you want me to." SnakeEyes muttered warmly.

Cater nodded, "Yeah, I don't think I could walk all the way back from here! Thank you so much for offering. Anyways, how did you end up in a Milities jail? From what I have heard from Trey, he made you appear to be like a god."

"Ah, that." SnakeEyes rubbed his neck sheepishly, "I guess I was just careless?"

Cater thought that SnakeEyes was lying to her, but she decided to not ask further. SnakeEyes had lied to her for a reason, which wasn't hers to know.

She then approached SnakeEyes, telling him to teleport her back to the Academy in return. She couldn't wait to tell Trey about this! This was incredible! She had met the Silver Branded L'Cie, and had an incredible story to tell him!

After SnakeEyes left her at the Academy, He teleported away. Cater ran into the building, and tried to find Trey. However, the only person she could find was Deuce.

"Cater? What are you doing here?" Deuce asked, a small smile on her face.

"Have you seen Trey? I need to tell him something." Cater muttered in response, "I've seen him."

Deuce's looked confused, "Who have you seen? Oh! You've seen the S. B. L'Cie? Lucky! I haven't even met him yet! It's now half the class that have seen him!"

"You mean SnakeEyes?" Cater asked, getting excited, "He is A-MAZE-ING! He literally broke out of jail, both of us slew all of the guards, and then he teleported me back here! Who else has met him apart from me?"

"His name is SnakeEyes?" Deuce asked, before Cater nodded enthusiastically? Deuce then asked, "How did you find out?"

"He told me!" Cater jumped up and down in excitement, "It was after we broke out of the jail, but before he teleported me back here! So, who else has seen SnakeEyes?"

Deuce paused, "Trey, you, Sice, Queen, Machina and Rem for sure. I think Jack knows, but I haven't asked him yet. He just seems interested in our secret conversations about SnakeEyes."

"Can you let Trey know? I want to go to bed now, Night Night!" Cater shouted, before running down the corridor and back to her room.

"I will do, thank you Cater." Deuce smiled, "Night night!"

Cater, however, didn't hear those final words, as she had already gone.

[Ace- 8]

Ace had charged head first into the flames, surprising even himself. However, with hindsight, he knew that he was like that. He seemed cool, calm and collected, but if a friend was in danger, he would do anything to save them.

So, when the Milites army set a building on fire, with Cinque still trapped inside it, he dropped his cool attitude and acted as rashly as the fire that threatened to engulf the building.

He would do anything to save her. Yes, she could be crazy at times, and yes, not many people in the Academy liked her, but he still loved her for who she was, and nothing was going to change that.

"Cinque! CINQUE! Where are you?" Ace yelled, trying not to breathe in the toxic air. He could feel his skin start to burn as he tore through each room, searching for her.

No one seemed to be in here. No one at all. And yet, Ace still had memories of Cinque. She was still alive. She had to have been, otherwise he would have forgotten her by now. However, where was she?

In the next room, he could see two people. One was a L'Cie, with a silver brand, and the other one was...

"Cinque!" Ace cries out desperately, running to her side, "Please be ok, please live, please don't die!"

Ace could hear Cinque slowly mumble "Aceie...Aceie..."

"Cinque! You're going to be ok! Please, we need to get out of here!" Ace replied, trying to calm both himself and Cinque down. He then turned to the L'Cie, "What happened? What happened to Cinque?"

"I do not know exactly, but when I first came in here, I found her unconscious on the floor. This was before the fire was set. My guess is that she was beaten up and left for dead by one of the soldiers." SnakeEyes replied calmly, "Do you want my help getting her out of here?"

Ace nodded, and the two of them gently picked up Cinque, before carrying her out of the building, making sure that they didn't hit anything on the way.

When they finally got out, they lay her down on the ground, before Rem came over to heal Cinque. When the former looked up, she paused.

"Are you... SnakeEyes?" Rem gasped.

SnakeEyes nodded, before he glanced at Ace's chocobo, "Is that a chocobo? I haven't seen one in a long, long time. Where I live now, they are not a common species. Did you know there are more species of chocobo out there? I have seen black chocobos, white chocobos, even a gold one on occasion."

Ace shook his head, "No, I didn't know that. Do you know the best method to grow the Gyschal greens?"

SnakeEyes replied, giving Ace the best techniques to grow them. However, they were interrupted by Rem, who stated that Cinque was getting better, and would soon be able to go back to the Academy.

"I guess that's my cue to depart now." SnakeEyes muttered, "I have seen so many of you guys from Class Zero now. I expect I shall be meeting the rest of you soon. Good day to you."

The L'Cie turned, walked away, before teleporting out of the street. Ace walked back to Cinque and waited for her to wake up.

"Aceie..." Cinque weakly muttered when she finally awoke, "What happened? What happened to your face?

"You were knocked out by a Milites soldier, and a man named SnakeEyes found you, but then the building you were in was set on fire. I ran in there to rescue you, getting burnt in the process. I then met SnakeEyes, we both got you out, and Rem healed you." Ace replied, giving Cinque a gentle kiss on the lips, "You're fine now. You're safe."

"Is Rem going to heal you?" Cinque asked quietly.

Ace nodded, before asking Rem to heal him also. Rem cast Cura on Ace, and Ace could feel a stinging pain as the burns healed themselves. However, he was left with one small scar on his left arm, that Rem couldn't heal.

Ace smiled, thinking this through. This would definatly be a story to tell his children.

[Deuce-9]

"The Latest session of SnakeEyes' fan club is now in session." Trey whispered quietly, "The first thing on the agenda is a new sighting, from one of our own members! Deuce saw SnakeEyes whilst walking in the forest one night, if that is correct?

Deuce nodded, with a smile, "Yes. I was out in the forest, trying to find a quiet place where I could practise my flute playing. As I was playing, I saw him next to the tree I was looking at..."

"That's beautiful." SnakeEyes muttered quietly, "It has been so long since I have heard anything that calming, serene and just...wonderful. Please, can you...play for me?"

Deuce nodded, calmly, thinking of which piece the L'Cie would like to hear. Would he like a cheerful folk melody? A regal sounding piece? Or a soulful tune?

She picked up her flute, and played a piece she was composing. The soft, quiet wave like melody weaved it's way through the thicket, and both of them were transfixed by the tapestry of sound that was being created. It was beautiful.

When she had finished, SnakeEyes was crying. When he had regained his composure, he smiled, "Thank you. What was that piece called?"

"A Place where Hope will come." Deuce replied, "It's a piece about the fact that, even though we are fighting in a war, and the darkest days are ahead of us, it is saying that one day, peace will come back. There will be hope, joy and life that will exist once the dreary clouds of war have gone."

SnakeEyes paused, a small frown on his face. He then handed Deuce a small moogle figure, muttering, "This has been my good luck charm for so long. I hope it can fulfil that same purpose for you."

Deuce looked at the figurine intently. It looked familiar for some reason. However, she didn't comment, and by the time she had finished, he had gone.

"Here is that figure." Deuce finished, showing the others that small figure. The others had a look at it, before Ace murmured something in shock.

"That looks...that looks like Cinque's moogle figure!" He gasped, "She keeps it on her person at all times. Until she lost it in the fire. I thought it had been burned to a crisp. I guess SnakeEyes found it, picked it up, and decided to return it you. Next time either Cinque or I see that L'Cie, we will say thank you to him."

Everyone smiled weakly, before Trey continued, "I guess, if we have nothing to say, I guess we can continue with our agenda. We were working on Ace and Rem's descriptions of the cloak SnakeEyes wore, and I think we have finally managed to get it just right..."

Trey fumbled through his pockets, finding the small doodle he had worked on. He took it out, before laying it down on the grass it. Most of them, excluding Cater, who said that the one she saw was slightly different, agreed that it was the correct design. It was a silk red fabric, with patterns of the Eyes of Etro sown on in fine silver thread. Also, the cloak was fire proof and weapon proof, according to Sice and Ace's testimonies.

"So, who is he? Where did he come from?" Queen asked, "Judging from our accounts, he must be a very old L'Cie, who lived on Oriense around the time before anyone alive, including the various other L'Cie, can remember."

"This is because there is one mention of him in the history books, at the destruction of the city of Nova, in the first ever war between the Lorian Allience and Susaku." Trey began, before he rambled on about the small part SnakeEyes played in it, as well as the fact that the city was destroyed before the oldest known Susaku L'Cie alive was even born.

"Anyways." Queen sounded annoyed, "I believe that he is far older than that..."

"Cinque and I were talking, and I think he came from Susaku, but I think he now lives in this region of Concordia, as this is one of the very few areas that no chocobos live in." Ace muttered, "Cinque on the other hand thinks that he came from another world."

Everyone paused. Machina asked the question that was on the group's mind, "Why?"

"I do not know exactly why. Cinque told me that that was her theory." Ace replied "That is all that I can say."

Soon the conversation drifted onto other matters, such as school work, and the war. Eventually, the session for that fortnight disbanded, and everyone returned to the Academy, where their next mission would be given to them.

[King- 10]

Meanwhile, King was in the arena, training, as he does Every day. He needed to get stronger, if he wanted to protect the rest of his classmates. He didn't want to watch any of them die, or forget any of them.

He had experienced that when he was in Class Ninth, with a young girl. He couldn't remember anything about her, apart from the fact that she was in the class and that she died on a mission.

What if anyone in Class Zero died? King didn't want any of that, he wanted to keep them alive, he wanted to protect them. That was why he fights.

He looked up at the clock. He could give himself five minutes more of practise, but then he had to go back.

Just then, his next opponent arrived. A L'Cie. He knew immediately that it was the Silver Branded L'Cie Trey had seen weeks prior.

"Strange, I have never had to fight a L'Cie in the arena before." King thought, "This would be a good opportunity to learn new techniques, which I can use in future missions"

King started to shoot at the L'Cie, hoping that because the L'Cie had a gun like weapon, he would just focus on ranged attacks. Well, until he started to get closer and closer to King.

Then, a melee fight occurred between the two, the L'Cie fighting with the sword part of his gunblade, and King resorting to hitting the L'Cie with his own guns' handles. Both fighters were getting injured, blood pouring out of their several wounds. Both of them took a small healing break, before continuing their fight.

Until the L'Cie's hood fell backwards, revealing his face. King was about to say something, but the L'Cie silenced him.

"Shhhhh." He muttered, silencing King, "Please do not let this get out. I do not want everyone to know the truth until it is time."

King thought for a moment, before replying "I understand. I'll keep this quiet from the others. I should be going now to a meeting. Goodbye, and I hope to see you again in the future."

Five minutes later, King arrived a minute late at the meeting, discussing the next mission. All of them were required in Concordia, to try and help the Susaku army in their conflict against them. King had made his excuse, saying that he was just caught up in the arena. He didn't mention his enemy to Kurasame.

When the meeting was over, King slowly approached Trey and whispered, "You were right." Into his ear.

Trey smiled excitedly, "You've seen SnakeEyes too? Was that in the arena? Did you see anything exciting?"

King lied smoothly, "No, nothing unusual. I just think that you should know."

Trey frowned, before he went of to tell the others that King had seen SnakeEyes as well. King, meanwhile, was thinking about that fight, and the reasons why SnakeEyes didn't want the truth out.

It wasn't the time for the truth to come out.

[Cinque- 11]

"We're going to Concordia tomorrow!" Cinque told herself excitedly, as she walked down to the chocobo ranch, preparing herself for her date with Aceie. She was so excited! Aceie was going to show her all the chocobos, and maybe she would get to ride one also! Of course, she preferred Moogles to Chocobos, but the latter were still adorable!

She finally arrived three minutes early, and she began to wait for Aceie. Then, she could hear movements behind her. Was it a L'Cie? That was what her sixth sense was telling her! She turned around, and she gasped!

It was SnakeEyespy! The one who helped Aceie save her life! This was unbelievable! She jumped up and down in the air, before she ran towards SnakeEyespy, and hugged him.

"Thank you so much for saving my life, SnakeEyespy! ~ :D" Cinque mumbled loudly, "You are amazing!"

SnakeEyes chuckled awkwardly, "My pleasure. Can you relax your hug a bit? You're... Crushing me."

Cinque nodded, before loosening her grip on SnakeEyespy. Finally, she asked, "Why are you here? I would never have expected you to be here!"

SnakeEyes replied, "I wanted to see the Chocobos here. Why are you here?"

Cinque replied excitedly, "I have a date with Aceie! He has promised to show me the Chocobos!"

SnakeEyes smiled weakly, "The joys of young love. I hope you have a wonderful date. There is one small thing I will say before I go. Being a L'Cie, it isn't as good as one would think. It's a curse. I have seen people I have cared for die, and I was powerless to stop it. Please, of offered the chance to be a L'Cie, don't take it. Tell everyone in Class Zero this also. Good night to you."

As SnakeEyes teleported away, Aceie arrived, "Cinque! So, what do you want to show me first?"

"How you breed the Chocobos!" Cinque replied eagerly, "The baby ones are so Kawaii!~ :D"

Aceie smiled, "Of course, my Cinque. Just come this way."

When Cinque had seen the breeding grounds, Aceie then took Cinque to see the grown up Chocobos, before Aceie decided to show Cinque how to ride one. Cinque, meanwhile, was having a good time! She was having a whale of a time! Aceie was such a good boyfriend!

Finally, the two of them walked out of the ranch, and back towards the Academy. Both of them were talking about how good the date was, and how they should do something once they were in Concordia (Well, if they could fight their way to Concordia)

Cinque then muttered quietly, "I have finally seen him! ~ :D SnakeEyespy! He's cool! He told me to tell you guys that being a L'Cie sucks! ~ ;) "

Aceie nodded, deep in thought, mulling over those words, "I wonder why he decided to tell us that...?"

Cinque, however, didn't think of SnakeEyespy's motives, instead thinking of the fact that he was at the ranch in the first place, which was so cool!

Finally, the two of them went to bed, and prepared for their mission tomorrow.

[Nine-12]

For Nine, the war was simple. Susaku was good. Milities, Concordia and the monsters that roamed the lands were evil. And Lorican... They were one of the unfortunate victims in this war.

Their mission had finally began, and they were fighting their way through Concordia in order to severely weaken their army. They blamed Class Zero, and by extension Susaku, for the death of Andoria, their monarch.

Nine got out his lance, and jumped up into the air, before he began to fall on his opponent, a young female soldier who was controlling a Miniflan. When he finally reached the ground, he had speared the flan through its head.

As soon as he had done so, he then went, and speared the female soldier through the stomach, she slumped down, blood trickling out of her throat.

"I'm sorry...Celestia" The woman choaked, "I let...you down. I should have..."

Nine immediately sucked the Phantoma out of the soldier, feeling satisfied that he had defeated another force of evil in the world. Feeling satisfied, he charged towards the next opponent, a young male riding a dragon, who was flying around the battlefield trying to kill Susaku soldiers.

As he jumped into the air, he nearly was attacked by the male soldier's axe. However, he dodged out of the way, and fell onto the dragon's neck, which he promptly separated from its head.

"NO! nonono..." The soldier wailed, "Wyvera! No, you...you killed her! She's all I had left of my family, and you took her!"

Nine faltered for a second. He was drawing comparisons between this situation and the situation where Ace lost his beloved Chocobo. These people, they weren't evil...

Just then, he turned around, and saw that they were about to crash! Damn! He hadn't thought about the consequences of killing the dragon, and not it's rider. He decided to jump off the dragon again, and take his chances on the ground.

As he fell to the ground, he stood up, before joining in the fray again, fighting more Concordian soldiers that attacked him as he charged through the battle ground. When more and more soldiers started to fall to Nine's lance, he could see two L'Cie fighting.

One of them was a young female Soyru L'Cie, which he could easily work out by her blue brand. Her eyes were also blue, and her black hair was tied up in a braid. She was fighting using a pair of daggers, as well as summoning Seiryūjin to fight the other L'Cie.

The other one was a male L'Cie? Nine couldn't tell from the distance, as he was wearing a massive cloak, which obscured his/her figure. This L'Cie had a Silver brand, and he/she was fighting using a gun, as well as using magic to combat his foe.

It was truly an awesome sight. It was like the earth had done to war against the sky itself, as it's two champions clashed, tearing the world asunder. Nine marvelled at the sight. How he wished he could fight like that!

Finally, the fight was ending, and the L'Cie with a Silver brand had the definite advantage. Which was confirmed when seconds later, the female L'Cie started to crystallise in front of his eyes.

Soon afterwards, the other L'Cie took Phantoma from crystallised figure, before he walked back into the fray.

Nine smiled, before he followed in that L'Cie's footsteps, and continued in the fight.

[Seven- 13]

Mission report:

Mission: SK842-RCD

Student: Seven- Class Zero.

Operation: To break into the Concordian field base in order to steal their military strategy documents.

Report from Student: I managed to infiltrate my way by killing a young female soldier who was a similar size to me, before I stole her uniform. After that, I broke into the base, and found my way through it, without being seen, until I got out of the central planning room with some documents.

However, I was seen by a middle aged male soldier who hadn't yet been inflicted with the Seiryūjin curse yet, who had worked out that I wasn't not a Concordian soldier. He alerted all the soldiers in close proximity, and I decided that the best course of action was to fight my way out of the building, healing myself and killing soldiers when I thought it appropriate.

I was assisted by a neutral L'Cie, called SnakeEyes, who had broken into the Concordian base in order to observe how their soldiers fought their wars. We fought hard, and by the time we got out of the base, we had killed 20% of the soldiers inside.

The Documents were fine, with just one small burn mark on one of the corners, but otherwise, it is legible. The Concordians have planned a two prong attack against Susaku, assisted by the Milites Empire.

I would recommend a swift retreat back to Susaku in order to defend it.

Seven, Class Zero. Written on the 1st March, 842.

-Line Break-

Kurasame glanced at Seven's report, before she saw the name SnakeEyes, when she decided that talking with Seven would be necessary.

When Seven had finally entered Kurasame's office, Kurasame stood up.

"Seven, so you mentioned a neutral L'Cie in your report on your mission?" He asked, staring at her.

"..." Seven paused, "Yes, I did? What do you want to ask?"

"What L'Cie type was he? I presume he was a Genbu?" Kurasame questioned.

Seven nodded, hiding the fact that she was telling a lie, "Yes, he was a Genbu L'Cie."

Kurasame processed this information, "Why was he observing the Concordians and how they thought?"

"I don't know. He didn't talk much, apart from to tell me his name and motives, as I had asked." Seven responded, "So, I don't really know? My guess would be so that he could get stronger?"

Kurasame asked, "And you really killed 20% of the soldiers?"

Seven nodded.

"That is all I had to ask. Thank you Seven. Have a good day." Kurasame spoke formally.

"Likewise." Seven replied, before walking out of his office, and back to the others, who she had told the truth to. SnakeEyes only spoke twice really, the first time to say that he was going to help her fight, and the other was to state why he was in there. She didn't even know his name until she had told the others. Who told her to keep this secret.

Which she did, as even she dreaded fighting the Tonberry as a punishment. Even then, there was only one person in Class Zero who hadn't seen SnakeEyes, so even if Kurasame tried to give them a detention, they could all testify about seeing him. Then Kurasame surely would let them off?

[Eight- 14]

Eight: Trey, I saw him! You know, SnakeEyes?

Trey: Writing notes in class in risky, as a Tonberry has got an acute sense of sight, due to the structure of the eyes... Wait, Deuce told me to get to the point. You have seen the Silver Branded L'Cie also?

Eight: Yeah! I saw him! It was just outside of Susaku. He was practising fighting against a tree, damaging the tree quite badly. I decided to approach him, and he saw me, and offered to train me in cool fist techniques.

Trey: Wait, he knew you didn't like weapons?

Eight: Strangely, yeah! So, I accepted, and he taught me some cool moves I have never even heard of, such as Hidden Dragon, and Catastrophe. I feel much more powerful now, though I am not sure if I will use these new techniques in battle yet.

Trey: Sounds cool. I think we should stop writing notes, as...

However, before Trey could hand over his note to Eight, the Tonberry had stabbed the note with his miniature buster sword, and was walking over to Kurasame to show him what it said.

"So, writing notes in my class? That's a first." Kurasame asked sarcastically, "It is a shame though that they are not of the nature that I was teaching my lesson on. Now, what does this say?"

Kurasame read the note, and the class fell into an uneasy silence, especially when Trey mouthed what the note was about. They were busted. All of them.

When their teacher had finished reading, he began, "Trey, Seven, Eight. You have been spreading rumours of this mysterious SnakeEyes, also known as the Silver Branded L'Cie. I think I said that anyone who was doing so would get a detention with my Tonberry?"

Everyone gulped.

"That detention takes place tomorrow, 8pm sharp." Kurasame finished.

Everyone was silent, until Ace interrupted, "I've met him too."

As soon as he said this, everyone else was also saying that they had also met this L'Cie, and the three people brought up for the detention didn't deserve it, as they hadn't spread rumours.

"If that is the case, they haven't spread rumours, so theoretically, they do not deserve a detention." Kurasame began, and everyone sighed with relief, until he continued, "However, you have been keeping valuable information from us, that could have helped us win the war. You will all have this detention tomorrow. So, how did you meet this SnakeEyes?"

Everyone paused, before slowly, but surely, everyone opened up their stories on how they met SnakeEyes, and as they continued, Kurasame fell silent. This sounded incredible! How could someone this powerful exist in Orience?

That was something Kurasame wanted to know. Maybe one day, he would meet this L'Cie too?

[Kurasame- 15]

Kurasame returned back to his office after a long hard day of teaching his students. After the discussion involving SnakeEyes, they had all been distracted. Even more so than usual. That was the worse lesson he had ever taught by far. He had, in the end, only managed to cover three pages, and even then he didn't know how much of that sank into their brains.

His ears twitched. He could hear someone breathing in here. Who was in here, what was going on?

"Anyone here? Hello?" Kurasame asked quietly, taking a small step forward, grasping onto his sword tightly.

"Hello, Sensei." A voice replied, "How nice it is to see you. I apologise for causing you any offence by breaking into your office, but I just wanted to see you."

Kurasame turned around, and he saw him. The Silver Branded L'Cie. SnakeEyes. Idolised by most of his class.

"Why are you here? And why did you call me Sensei?" Kurasame queried.

"I have come to explain the truth to you." SnakeEyes replied, "But, the first thing I should do is to show you my face."

SnakeEyes removed his cloak and hood, and Kurasame gasped. It was a tall man, in his early twenties, who looked very muscular. He had the distinctive silver eyes that Class Zero had seen and messy blonde hair.

"...Ace?" Kurasame stammered, sitting down in his chair. What was going on?

SnakeEyes frowned, "It has been years since I have been called that. Yes, I am, or was, Ace. I will answer any, and all of your questions, if you so desire."

"How is this possible?" Kurasame asked.

"It's complicated." SnakeEyes replied, "In a nutshell, I come from an earlier cycle of Orience. Class Zero and I experienced the war as well, same as you did. We all chose to become Susaku L'Cie, in order to become the Agito, and defeat Gala's Lulusath army. We were being soundly defeated. I don't remember much of what happened next, but Etro's gate opened a tiny bit, and I ended up falling through it into the Unseen Realm. I then woke up, having missed several cycles of Orience..."

"Cycles of Orience? Does that mean that the history of Orience repeats itself in an endless loop?" Was Kurasame's response.

"Yes." SnakeEyes replied.

"Why?" Kurasame asked.

"Well, 'Mother' is actually a servant of the Goddess Pulse, like Gala is the servant of Lindzei, and me being Etro's L'Cie." SnakeEyes muttered angrily, "And they were doing this to try and open a gate to the Unseen realm. I don't understand why. But the heartless monsters decided to sacrifice the people of Orience in order to achieve this."

Kurasame fell silent, before he finally managed to ask, "So, what happened next?"

"I... Woke up in the unseen realm, Valhalla, as a normal human being. Etro wanted to give me a good life, so she was planning on rescuing me. I however, decided that I wanted to be a L'Cie, to try and save Orience from its fate, to save the lives of everyone including Class Zero." SnakeEyes mumbled, "I tried at first, but I wasn't strong enough, so I found a way through the Interdimensional Rift, or the void, into other realms to train myself, and get stronger."

"So, your focus was to save us?" Kurasame asked, to which SnakeEyes nodded. Kurasame continued "And you went to other worlds? What were they like?"

SnakeEyes smiled weakly, "Awesome, but not home, not Orience. I have missed this place so much."

"Can I ask, what was the Unseen realm like?" Kurasame asked.

SnakeEyes replied, "It was outside of our time, but it had its own time. It is the home of the War Gods, or the Eidolons, as Lightning called them."

"Lightning?" Kurasame asked.

"She is from another world also. She was dragged into Valhalla to be Etro's champion, so I wasn't alone there. She was the one who taught me to wield a gunblade." SnakeEyes smiled fondly, "So, do you have any more questions to ask?"

"One, which is why are you only telling me?" Kurasame asked.

SnakeEyes awkwardly paused, "You...you...you die in three days."

The L'Cie broke down in tears, and Kurasame hugged him, and was barely able to hear SnakeEyes mutter, "I cannot take it ...anymore...the...deaths...losing...Cinque...losing everyone I care for...It isn't fair...why do the Goddesses...have...to...be...so...selfish?"

Kurasame snapped out of his state of shock, trying to comfort SnakeEyes, "At least Orience now has you. You really want to stop the loop, give everyone a future, and that is truly amazing. Thank you so much Ace, thank you for giving up I your freedom to save us."

SnakeEyes was still sobbing, lamenting on all the chaos, sadness and death he had seen in the loops, and in the other worlds he had visited. Aerith, Leo, Tellah, Galuf...they all joined the people he cared about most in death. He had seen too much of it. He wished that he could just forget all of this, go back to the happy days at the Academy. However, that was in the past now, and he couldn't go back.

It was only when Kurasame asked, "How do I...? How do I die?", that SnakeEyes managed to fight back the tears and sadness. He stood up, paused for a moment, before replying:

"You surrended your Phantoma to that Susaku summoner, who can summon multiple War Gods without sacrificing herself. She is going to summon Alexander, and everyone's Phantoma helps her to do so, and we win the war as a result. Then everything goes to pot. The world gets destroyed and remade, and our victory is meaningless as a result."

Kurasame fell silent, before he decided to change the topic, "So, are you a Type-A or a Type-B Etro L'Cie?"

"Type-A, which is why my combat skills are pretty good." SnakeEyes replied, "Along with the endless amount of training that I did, which meant that I am better than most at combat. Still I do make errors on occasion."

"How old are you?" Kurasame paused, "If the loops repeat themselves..."

"Around 1-5 million years old? I'm not 100% sure, having lost count a long time ago." SnakeEyes muttered sadly. Kurasame looked stunned.

When the latter could finally speak again, Kurasame asked, "How do you get into and out of Valhalla?"

"I can enter and leave Orience when one cycle ends, but before the next one begins." SnakeEyes answered, "I best be going now. I have other things to do. Please, keep this to yourself, and don't tell Class Zero the truth. I want to tell them when the time is right."

Kurasame nodded, "I understand. Goodbye Ace, I wish you the best of luck in completing your focus."

SnakeEyes smiled, "Thank you..and...and... Goodbye."

The next day, Kurasame was told what SnakeEyes had already told him about his future. Kurasame was gutted. He only had two days left to live. And even then, his death wouldn't matter. Yes, it would help win the war, but... The world would get destroyed anyway.

Still, he had two days with his Class. Yeah, even though they can be annoying at times, he still cared for them deeply. All of them, they were a family. If anyone of them had died, he would have been devastated. It would be like a younger sibling had been robbed from him.

This is why, when he finally walked into the classroom, he instantly said, "You no longer have to do the detention, any of you."

Everyone in the class fell silent, shocked. Kurasame had never, ever, cancelled a detention before. It was strange.

"Why?" Ace asked, "Why did you just stop our detention like that?"

Kurasame frowned, but this was hidden by his mask. Ace. He was finding it hard not to see SnakeEyes in him, the broken, but powerful, L'Cie who had traded his freedom for the future of Orience.

"I have been thinking, and I thought that the detention that I had given was too harsh. We are fighting a war, and harsh punishments are the last thing we need. What if the last memories of each other before we die are not good ones?" Kurasame asked, sadness evident in his voice.

What he wasn't expecting was for the whole class to say that they actually really liked him, and they thought that he was a good teacher (Even Nine, strangely enough). Kurasame smiled.

That was just what he needed.

[Epilogue]

SnakeEyes looked around the room in shock. They hadn't chosen to become L'Cie, they hadn't doomed the world to its death. Orience had a future, and Class Zero would be alive!

He smiled, thinking of the futures that they would have. They would become adults, get jobs, fall in love and get married, before raising their own families. And finally, they would be able to die in peace, without the threat of war. This Ace would have that future. That future which he, SnakeEyes, had always wanted.

Finally, he would get to explain the truth. He removed his hood and cape, before folding it around his arm, and then placing his gunblade into its holster. He then walked around the Palace of all Magic, trying to find out where they were. Then, he could explain it, and then he could find a quiet place and enter crystal statis, confident that the world would be alright now.

As he looked through each room. He was confused by the lack of life in the building. Where was everyone?

"Oh, they must have left already. I'll just search the last couple of rooms, and then I'll go back to the Academy, and look for them." SnakeEyes thought, before he froze.

No.

Nonono.

NOOOO!

He had found twelve members of Class Zero, lying dead on the floor. They had made the Susaku flag out of their mantles, and the stick that held the flag out of their own weapons. They were slumped around the structure, each of them holding hands.

"I've failed them. I saved the world but I failed them. Is my focus an impossible one?" SnakeEyes muttered, tears forming from his eyes.

None of them had a future.

What about the other two? Machina? Rem? Where were they? Were they also dead? Had he failed them as well?

Suddenly, he could hear movement behind him. He hid under a pile of rubble, as he saw Machina and Rem enter the room. They were alive! SnakeEyes was shocked. He had saved two of them for once.

As he watched them break down in tears, both of them guilty that they survived and that they hadn't, SnakeEyes wrote down the memories of this version of Class Zero, just in Etro, or Arecia made him forget in this cycle of Orience.

Finally, he had finished writing them down, and the two living members of Class Zero had finished mourning their lost Classmates. SnakeEyes thought that they would be ready to hear the truth. They deserved that at least.

"Machina, Rem." SnakeEyes replied formally, standing up and moving towards the two humans in the room. He watched them turn around, and both of them gasped.

"You can't be, you died!? How is this possible?!" Machina gasped, apprehensively moving backwards, away from SnakeEyes.

"Ace?" Rem smiled weakly.

SnakeEyes replied, "Yeah, it is me. It's complicated. Yes, I died in this version of Orience... But..."

He then explained everything he had told Kurasame before the latter's deaths, and as he continued, Machina and Rem's eyes widened in shock, and horror. When he had final, finished, both of them hugged SnakeEyes.

"Oh my Etro... I am so sorry." Rem muttered apologetically, "We didn't know. I have one question though. Why did you decide to visit us? Why did you come and follow us?"

"I care for you guys, even though for me it has been millions of years since I knew you properly. I wanted to see you. That is why I saved Trey's life, and yours, and Cinque's. That is why I fought Sice and King, this is why I assisted Cater and Seven. That is the reason I met each and every single one of you. Because I wanted to see you living out your lives before they went to pot." SnakeEyes wept, "And now..."

Machina nodded, "I understand. I am also sorry for not trusting you, for allying with Milites. I was just so angry at you for my brothers death. I wanted to protect Rem. Both desires caused me to make my biggest mistake."

"I forgive you." SnakeEyes smiled weakly, before the three of them walked out, and towards a happier life.

-Line Break-

"So, son, I presume that you want to return back to the Unseen realm?" Arecia Al-Rashia asked quietly, "I mean, you have no business here now, whereas you must have some in that Valhalla of yours?"

"Yes, 'Mother'." SnakeEyes paused, "Machina and Rem are now dead. I have nothing here now. Lightning may need my assistance in defeating that Caius bloke. I'll comeback and complete my own focus, once that has been sorted out."

Arecia smiled, "You may not have to worry about your focus for much longer. I had been talking to Joker and Tiz..."

"I forgot about them!" SnakeEyes gasped, "How are they? What are they up to?"

"They're fine, and they retired from teaching at the new Orience academy, and are currently living in Milites. We were discussing the idea of one day ending the whole experiment to get into the Unseen Realm. Removing the crystals. Stopping the war. Giving my family, Class Zero, a future." Arecia replied.

SnakeEyes smiled, tears of joy coming from his eyes. That would mean that all of them had a future of peace ahead of them. No more death. No more being the Agito. No more cycles of Orience.

"Thank you!" SnakeEyes replied happily, "Thank you so, so much! Class Zero deserves that future! So, are you going to destroy Orience now?"

Arecia nodded, "Soon. You can go into the Unseen realm, defeat Caius, go into Crystal statis, and everything will be good down here. Good luck, you're going to need it."

SnakeEyes asked, "What about you?"

"I am leaving Orience." Arecia replied, "I'm no longer needed here. I just hope Gala will leave also. Farewell Ace, and I hope that we get to meet soon."

"Likewise." SnakeEyes paused, "I thought you were a monster for allowing this to continue, but I guess now that you didn't know any better. After all, I guess were both similar, working for a Goddess to fulfil their own goals, and now our own."

After these words, SnakeEyes years of grief were finally ended when Arecia destroyed this cycle of Orience.

**Author's Note:**

> My Question: Why did Gala and Arecia carry on this experiment 600,000,000 or so times (which was to try and get into the Unseen realm) even though it always failed.
> 
> My Answer to the question: Because there must have been one small success, which motivated them to continue. SnakeEyes was that one small success. Saved by Etro, he decided to become her L'Cie in order to save Class Zero and Orience from his fate.
> 
> Another Question which sprang from my question: Why didn't he help immediately?
> 
> My Answer to that Question: He was training, both in Valhalla, and in other realms, to get stronger in order so that he can be more successful. He himself tried to avert Orience's fate, but due to his weaknesses, and lack of planning in general, it always failed, (One loop had the whole of Class Zero attempt to kill him, which of course meant that none of them believed him, and that meant they chose to be L'Cie.)
> 
> If you have any more questions, I will attempt to answer.
> 
> Will I write for this fandom again?: Yeah? If I have more ideas, I will do them. This is such a cool fandom, I like it! :D
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> TMG :D


End file.
